Seven years ago one of our previous writers, Bryam Daley, wrote an article titled “What If Tony Stark is Being Set Up as the Doctor Doom of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”With this weekend’s announcement at Comic-Con that Robert Downey Jr. was officially cast as Doctor Doom in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the upcoming films Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, I thought I would repost.This was all just fun speculation at the time and obviously not everything is spot on, but I still thought it was cool that seven years ago this is something we were talking about as Marvel fans! Here’s the article:Everyone shut up for a second. I know you probably saw this title and thought “Boooo! You suck! What a dumb theory! But hear me out and then blast me in the comments section if you want.Robert Downey Jr.’s days of being Iron Man are probably numbered, and we may be seeing less of him in the coming future of the MCU. While many are expecting him to die heroically or retire to a little Italian home with Pepper Potts, what if he goes a different direction.From the very beginning, Tony Stark has had the makings of Supervillain. And with there being very little chance of Victor Von Doom ever being brought to the MCU, having the genius who has many similarities as Doom play that role would be brilliant. I mean, currently in the comics, Doom is Iron Man, so saying that the opposite could happen isn’t really too far of a leap.First off, let’s look at the journey Iron Man has taken so far. He starts out building and selling weapons to whoever will buy them. He creates weapons of death. He controls death in many ways. Of course, he learns the error of his ways and starts wanting to save people. But how many people does he actually save? How many times has he declared himself above the laws of man? Tony Stark is a man with a God complex. He has been this way since the beginning. First, he takes life, then by Age of Ultron he wants to create life, and he does, but with terrible consequences. Everything in Ultron is a part of who Tony Stark is. He is Stark to the extreme, but Stark is still on his journey. Later on, we see Stark want to control all the heroes. He sees it as his duty to have them all registered. We see him turn into the villain in many ways by the end of Civil War. I mean, he brought a 15-year-old to fight trained warriors and killers. He sees himself now as a mentor to Peter but doesn’t do a whole lot of work to train him at all. Spider-Man is just another project for him to leave behind for the world. Of course afterwards it seems he may be into the whole marrying Pepper Potts, so maybe things are going to go right for him.BUT WHAT IF NO?From here on, everything I say is all hypothetical. We know Stark is going to be in Avengers: Infinity War, and we know Thanos is going to play a huge part in them, as well as the infinity stones, which basically give the power of a God. Now, currently, the one thing keeping Stark on the straight and narrow is Potts, but what if she were to die? Stark has lost so many people in the past. Mother, Father, enemies, he’s lost his friends. If Pepper Potts dies, that could be a huge hit to Stark’s Psyche. Just as when Doctor Doom lost his only love, Valeria. With her gone, all hope could be lost, and the power of God could be just the thing Tony needs to help him. What if after the first Infinity War fight, they beat Thanos, but at a cost. And in the end, everyone sort of agrees, to split up the stones to make sure that they don’t go into the wrong hands. But Tony disagrees. The second movie could be set up as a huge battle against Stark, who believes he can be the God of the MCU. That he’s smart enough and experienced enough to wield the power to help the world. To protect the world. Instead of using the Gauntlet he builds a suit that can harness the power of the stones. An Infinity Iron Man suit. He brings Pepper back and his parents. He creates a Utopia, but obviously, there are plenty of people who object to Emperor Tony. It’s up to his friends to bring him back. He realizes he can’t harness the power and it drives him mad. The old adage of living long enough to become the villain comes true. In the end, he learns the error of his way but the power is going to destroy everything. He sacrifices himself to stop it, and the world and galaxy is safe. Everyone assumes he’s dead, but in reality, he lives scarred and detached, becoming the next big villain of the MCU.Who else? Who else could give a threat as big as Thanos? Loki is wonderful, but it appears he’s going more on a redemption arc. Norman Osborne doesn’t look like he’s being brought into Spider-Man anytime soon. Possibly the Kree? The most obvious large threat to the MCU is Doctor Doom, but with Marvel not having his rights or Galactus, or Annihilus, the best choice of villain is a hero going bad. And what hero would have the genius to take on all the good in the MCU but Tony Stark? Granted, they would never call him Doctor Doom, but similar motifs could be given.We’ve seen from the very beginning, Tony Stark’s dark side. Having him play a Doom like character would be so intriguing to watch. To see him start his own nation, and be a world power who shrouds himself in mystery. It’s just a theory. What do you think?